Crime History, March 19, 1831: Shoemaker commits first known bank heist in U.S.

On this day, March 19, in 1831, Edward Smith committed the first recorded bank heist in the United States in New York City.

Smith, who ran a shoe shop, used a duplicated set of keys to enter the City Bank on Wall Street — now known as Citibank — after the establishment closed. He made off with $245,000 and spent $60,000 before he was caught a week later.

Smith was sentenced to five years of hard labor in Sing Sing prison.

Today, the most common method of robbing banks is to simply hand a teller a note demanding cash, according to the FBI.